Hi everyone,
I’ll share a little bit about Reuben at the end of this post, but let’s pay attention to what Anne has been doing. She is a FABULOUS knitter and smocker, so wait till you see the things she’s made.
Anne sent me some pictures to share with everyone…
Hi Jeanne, this is from a pattern from Pixie Faire. When I make another I will open it all the way down the back. I made a green one first but all 4-ply yarn is not created equal, and it came out a little bigger so was easier to put on.
You can click on any of the pictures and they will enlarge.
Aran sweater for Sara… (Anne, I don’t know if “Aran” was the right word, but maybe it’s a type of sweater… so I left it as you had written it.)
This was the first one I made…
This was from the same designer at Pixie Faire Dan-El Designs…a Vera knitted top.
This is the dress I made. Machine smocked… (ANNE…that is just gorgeous! Please tell me again who this was for?)
This is my Clematis; it originally was a tiny shoot buried under rubbish at the side of the old garage that was demolished in 2011. It needs somewhere to climb properly though.
As you can see, nowhere to climb.
Thank you Anne… your sweaters, and smocked dress and your Clematis are all just gorgeou!!! I always wanted to learn how to knit, but I’ve seen so many beautiful things, I probably better not learn… I’d want to do it all the time and make up for all the years I missed out doing it. *wink* *wink*
Okay, an update on Reuben…
So much has happened, and yet not really much to report. He is still limp as a dishrag…he can hold his head up for a little while…but he mostly rests it on the edge of his bed. He loves to go outside with George and lay in his bed in the gazebo and watch my hubby feeding and taking care of the chickens. He has sort of lost his voice… he doesn’t really have a bark right now, but sort of sounds like a hoarse walrus. He has a good appetite, and drinks TONS of cold water. When my hubby goes outside, he lays him on a pee pad in the grass and sort of at an incline with his head higher up on some areas of our yard and his body going slightly downhill. He will poop some mornings, sometimes not. We think he is peeing that way too.
We have been to the vet down the road from us, twice, and they gave him all sorts of medicine, and we were giving it to him like they said, but a few things didn’t make sense to us… like why give him a muscle relaxer when he’s already limp? They said on the second visit, there wasn’t anything else they could do for him… They didn’t know what was wrong with him, but said maybe a 24/7 animal hospital could help him… well, sorry, but they were $10,000 to start out and went up to $20,000 and beyond and no guarantees of helping…
So, we decided to go for a second opinion… my hubby called a Vet we knew back when my hubby worked at the SIU Farms. He was the Vet for the bulls my hubby took care of and we REALLY liked him. He was 35-40 minutes away, but that was okay. He made a way for us to take Reuben to see him today and he spent an hour with us… even getting out a Vet Handbook looking up things. He wondered about the tick disease some of you mentioned, but said Reuben’s symptoms weren’t necessarily in line with that… then he talked about maybe Myastenia Gravis or a stroke, but an MRI would be needed on one of those… we discussed Reuben’s symptoms and he didn’t think it was his spine, because the inflammation was in the back part of his body and wouldn’t affect his front legs… especially as quickly as it did. He did some test where my hubby held him up and Dr. Anderson pulled his front feet back so the top of his paws were actually curled under and on the table… They stayed that way and Reuben couldn’t move them where the pads would normally be on the table top. He said it’s instinctive for a dog to pull his feet forward and them not be with the fur next to the ground. He also did a test to see if he was in pain by using a pair of hemostats and doing a slight pinch of his skin. Reuben felt it but didn’t whimper… I’m probably forgetting some things, but this is enough. He wanted us to just try the Prednisone until Wednesday and then give him a call back to see if anything had changed… so that’s what we are going to do.
For now, it’s like having a baby in the house… we have to do everything for him… bring him water, bring him food, change his pee pad, pat his head, talk to him, give him his medicine, put him in the window so he can look out. It has been ALL CONSUMING… and I haven’t gotten much done, but maybe soon.
When we got to the front desk to pay for Reuben’s visit, someone had already paid the bill… they didn’t tell us who it was… just a lady who called… I had only told 3 people about today’s visit, and so it was revealed later on, it was our dear, sweet Rebecca, taking care of her best pal, Reuben… *sniffle* *sniffle*
Well, I better go… Please comment on Anne’s pretty things and NOT just Reuben… I didn’t want to share this post with her, but decided to anyway… I like to let everyone have their 15 minutes of fame all by themselves… and not share with me…
See you all tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Anne, thank you for sending pictures for today’s blog entry! Those sweaters are lovely. Years ago I did some knitting for my Cabbage Patch Kids, and I have some sweater patterns for my American Girl dolls (but haven’t made them up yet), but haven’t tried knitting for the smaller dolls, such as Ruby Red and little darlings.
BTW, Jeanne, “Aran” is correct. It refers to an Irish style of knitting, as I recall–cables and other dimensional stitches. I once knit an Aran baby blanket, actually supposed to be a carriage cover, to lay over the baby, not wrap the baby in.
The machine-smocked dress is lovely. I do hand smocking, as some of you know; haven’t tried machine smocking, though. Might have to try that one of these days!
Jeanne, thanks for the update on Reuben. I’m glad you took him to that other vet, and got some more ideas on how to treat and take care of him. Prednisone can be very helpful in certain cases, and I do hope and pray this is one of them.
Before I forget, I read thru yesterday’s comments and have replied to a couple of them.
Anne, I love those sweaters! Yes, I see the difference in the sleeves of the two sweaters, but both are just perfect in my eyes! I just love the intricate pattern of the Aran sweaters! The third one could easily be worn under another sweater, jacket, or coat without the trouble of having long sleeves. Beautiful, all three!
The smocked dress is adorable, and i wish I had someone to wear it! I always made sure that my daughter had a smocked dress in her wardrobe as a baby and toddler. Her first Christmas dress was a red Polly Flinders smocked dress with a white collar and smocking, with tiny red roses. I wish I had saved that dress!
Your clematis is like mine! Of course, mine are sleeping now, nothng to show, but we do have it on a trellis that certainly does help them to climb. Yours seem to be climbing that wire very well!
Oh Jeanne, I know how a sick pet changes everthing about how you go on with your day! Nothing seems right and it casts a pall over everything. I just hope and pray for a good outcome for Reuben, and George, and you.
Aran knitting comes from the Aran Islands (part of Ireland). Here are examples
https://www.aran.com/ladies-knitwear
and here is knitwear designer Alice Starmore’s Aran book
https://www.amazon.com/Aran-Knitting-Expanded-Alice-Starmore/dp/0486478424/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1784P05ENILUX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.L57YocEMD3whPklBlm_PZayrl6Op2Zpn-8RpF2uronsvAMmiZ16A1BNzhcUBvTbzBHgGBYZmMNMv0GDIgSJralWyvfaslgl1WpLFEIjUThIRhkaF1_0eCJbhs1h3gNz_dV9XgxsC9pqnGAs-T0yb6iIZXds8gooMJgA8KJYEuGfB9GNzZ2DHbcCuP99U8EhuKEIj2q9na_LqkA3MoyZIvAst78EWB1RpYfUEvz8te24.8C_SDil_SEhZ3j5LoqwXu8K0VHgqyaUVw88gInf2iJU&dib_tag=se&keywords=alice+starmore&qid=1764069315&s=books&sprefix=alice+starmore%2Cstripbooks%2C331&sr=1-5
People who live on islands often fish for a living and I have read that women created unique variations of designs like these in part so that they could, if necessary, identify the bodies of fishermen that had been lost at sea.
A Sara-sized Aran sweater is pretty amazing. It would be nice to see one still on the needles, preferably with hands on the needles to show the relativesize.
And here’s to the good health of Reuben and his family and all of the Sofa Sisters.
Happy Tuesday, Anne yes indeed your sweaters are beautiful. You are an excellent tiny knitter. I can not knit.
This smocked dress is incredibly beautiful. I love these dresses so much. Yours is really a treasure.
I am thrilled to see your beautiful clematis plant. It is very pretty.
Here in Virginia some people plant them near their mailbox in front which I think it not a good idea considering the post man has to use that box and with the bugs and spiders.
I think you have a great set up with the wire across the wall there.
Reuben is content and comfortable right now, and that is all you can do.
At some point, with his inability to walk will bring on another situation.
If you are sure he is not in pain, that is good.
Now I say this with an experience last May with my boy kitty Miles.
He was sick and bed ridden.
Not to alarm you, but one thing to be mindful of is caudal thrombosis.
This is most often a result of immobility. continue to check the circulation of his rear legs. If they are cold, he could be experiencing this.
Ask the doctor for a prescription for gabapentin. This way, if he suddenly throws a clot, it will be painful. open the capsules of gabapentin and make it into a slurry and pull it up into a syringe and administer it – for pain. It will save him from any very painful suffering until the vet is available to help Reuben.
I know this path. It is heart breaking but you and George are giving him his best days. My hubbs and I did the same for Miles. it is like having an infant, but you love them because they gave us so much.
All of you will remain in my prayers.
Anne, thank you for this fashion show of sweaters, so beautifully done. Your doll looks so pleased and cozy too
As an olden nurse (not vet nurse) I understand the dynamics of this particular situation that we experienced with our sweet Miles. Just google Dogs Caudal Clot.
Get the gabapentin to have on hand.
I agree with the care and treatment you have given Reuben.
All of those expensive treatments are stressful and not usually helpful. Prayers for all of you
HI Rosemary, we do have the Gabapentin, and have been giving it to him.
Thanks for being so concerned…
Blessings, Jeanne
What a wonderful day. Reuben hasn’t given up and his nurses are doing an excellent job. So glad that he is doing his business so he won’t get sepsis. I’m hoping that he is slightly better each day. What an exceptional daughter that paid the vet bill.
Oh wow oh wow, Anne’s sweaters are amazing. So cute. I love the Aran look too. Sara makes such a great model and looks so warm and toasty in the sweaters. The smocked dress is gorgeous. I love all of the details too like the edging on the collar. So sweet. I’m so impressed with the clematis. We have one here too, but it has never done very well. Maybe because I have to keep it off the fence so it won’t tear it apart. Guess I need a trellis. Thanks so much Anne and Jeanne for sharing the great photos.
Didn’t get a chance to answer a few from the blog yesterday as I couldn’t focus enough until late. Sissy, I hope that whatever it is with the addresses and what was sent has been figured out. Sounds so stressful. Hope you can let us know how it is going. And congrats to Barbara on that new bed. That is great!
Tomorrow, I’ll be making the sides we’re taking to Thanksgiving. Going to drive down to see daughter and family. I wasn’t able to get any photos yesterday, so hoping that maybe today I can catch those dolls with the camera before they run off to other activities. 🙂
It’s always fun seeing each other’s dolls- thank you Jeanne for sharing Anne’s pictures.
Those sweaters are beautiful, Anne. I always loved those cable pullovers. They are adorable on Sara. I have to hand it to you, Anne, your knitting is superb, especially when the item is small like these sweaters. They are amazing!
I never learned to knit but did accomplish crochet – which I really don’t do anymore.
The pink dress too, is adorable and so sweet. Some little girl will love it.
Well, I can’t knit but I’m good at puzzles though! Ha ha. Really, it’s become a passion- very relaxing like knitting or crochet.
And your clematis is beautiful and looks like it’s healthy. Years ago, our first house had a clematis- probably the only plant that ever survived us! It very was full and healthy.
Jeanne, we’re all hoping little Reuben gets better/ miracles can happen. In the meantime, he’s being loved and he feels safe. It’s hard to try doing normal things when his care is important. I know you’re both taking good care of him and some day you’ll be thankful for it. Blessing to all of you.
Anne you wouldn’t want to do an Etsy shop so I could buy some of your beautiful things would you? Right now I buy a lot of knitted things for my dolls from Ukraine and Poland. Would love to put some of that money in the hands of a sofa sister. I do crochet and have some sweater patterns for that, but they are for the smaller dolls and I can’t seem to get them right. Probably should start by doing the patterns for my 19.5″ Gotz and 18″ Truly Me dolls. I loved the machine smocked dress. Right now I can’t do that because for some reason whatever is in the machine that does the reverse stitching does not work on mine. It appears it never has, I just didn’t notice until I tried machine smocking. It can be fixed but I need to take my machine in to have it done. I have routine maintenance done on my machine and I’m just waiting for the time of the next check-up. Then I will tell the repairman about the problem.
I got tears in my eyes when you said Rebecca paid the vet bill. She can’t be there to help with Reuben and give him lots of love and attention so she is doing what she can from afar. What a blessing. So glad you sought a second opinion for Reuben. Wishing the best for his full recovery and prayers for all of you.
Anne’s Clematis is beautiful. I’ve never had one but may look into it. My yard needs some color.
The grandkids are on Thanksgiving break this week. It’s amazing the difference in kids. Jaiden came out yesterday. I asked her to give me a hand getting my laundry out to the washer. It only took a couple minutes of her time but you would have thought I had asked her to muck out the barn. Skyy came out today and after spraying the weeds in my flower garden that grows nothing but weeds he asked me if I’d like him to pressure wash my windows. I’ve been trying to get to that for months but physically couldn’t. He’s outside doing that now. Sean may have suggested that so he can have his pressure washer back LOL.
We finally got some serious rain yesterday and some parts of Houston got way more than they bargained for. One area north of Houston had a tornado. I couldn’t believe when I turned on the news and saw what they were showing. One huge tree fell on someone’s pick-up. Windows in cars and homes were blown out. We didn’t even have much wind here so I assumed most areas were just enjoying the rain as we were. It didn’t look like there were many buildings demolished only one of the buildings on an EMS campus. The two men inside were okay and none of the other buildings were affected so the services were still available. Today it is bright and sunny with a marvelous north breeze. May go out and sit on the porch of my cute little storage building for a while.
Dear Jeanne, thanks for sharing Anne’s lovely creations. She certainly has talented fingers! The sweaters are lovely and oh, my goodness, that smocking is amazing.
Prayers continue for Reuben, poor little guy.
I am off to see family. Happy Thanksgiving to you and my Sofa Sisters. Gobble, gobble!
Dear Dorothy, I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Prayers for safe travels.
Dear Laura, hello. Thanks for the good wishes and the prayers. Gobble, gobble (smile).
Where is “off to”? Are they nearby? Have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving.
Dear Barbara, I am not traveling too far, just about 40 minutes away. Since I am the non-cook, no one comes to me for meals (smile). I am the one who goes over the meadow and through the woods. I always give the host a supermarket gift card. Luckily my daughter did not take after me, in this aspect. She has learned to cook (laugh).
I do treat friends and family to meals in nice restaurants. I think that’s my super power but don’t tell anyone. Gobble, gobble.
I like your super power. I really need to come take advantage of that sometime lolololol…. We go to our son’s for Thanksgiving since they bought their house. Before that they lived in a mobile home and we had Thanksgiving. And that was before I got my dishwasher. We do help out with the funding of the meal. As long as they do the cooking I don’t mind helping to foot the bill lolololol again.
The Aran Islands are off of the west coast of Ireland. My Irish heritage is well aware of them and the gorgeous sweaters made there. I had one as a teen that was a gift.
Those sweaters are stunning, Anne, especially the first cream one as that is so traditional. My Rubies (Ruby Red dolls) are so jealous of Sara.
The smocked dress is equally stunning. The cabachon embroidered roses on the front are so pretty. Those are really fun to make as well. I absolutely love smocking on little girl’s clothing.
Your clematis is lovely. It looks almost the same color as ours. We have ours on the corner of the front porch on an arched trellis.
Wow, your 24/7 vet hospital is outrageously priced compared to ones here. True, it’s $150 to walk in the door but still….
Hopefully Reuben will continue to improve. I am very familiar with doing everything a pet needs for them. Have done it many times and it is a pure joy to care for God’s precious creatures.
I remember when my son’s dog got sick and they took her to the vet and were quoted an outrageous price and the vet would need to keep her. None of us had that kind of money so when the kids told them they couldn’t afford it. All of a sudden it became something they could do at home. It was tricky but they did it and saved her.
Thank you Jeanne for showing the photos and I will keep praying for Reuben. What a kind daughter you have.
Thank you everyone for the compliments on the sweaters. Knitting for dolls is fun because they are finished quite quickly.
Pixie Faire added a couple of pages of the history of the Aran sweaters and everything I thought I knew about them turned out to be an advertising campaign. It was interesting but a bit deflating. Still they are beautiful.
Barbara, Even if I opened an Etsy shop I don’t think I would sell many the postage from here is so expensive. To be honest, I don’t feel up to all the paperwork especially now with the tariffs. I am happy to knit for anyone who wants one though. Just get my e mail from Jeanne.
The colour of my clematis is much more vibrant than my computer shows, it is the kind of purple that hurts your eyes and the flowers are as big as saucers. It is really a beautiful plant and deserves an arch with a trellis or something to really show it off. The day after I took the photo we had a storm which finished off most of the flowers, or at least, left them very battered!
Laura, I have never heard of the embroidered roses called cabochon. I found the instructions on YouTube and they are called boullion roses there (here as well).
We are going out for dinner tonight as a farewell to Kai and Jono who are off tomorrow for a month on Gold Coast in Aus. Darren and Deborah are away but Russell is coming, or is supposed to be. He quite often pikes out at the last minute!
Monday and Tuesday we had 14 and 17C (58 and 64F approx) here with rain, today it is forecasting 29C (85F)!
I will see you all tomorrow, have a great day.
Yes, boullion roses. My error, Anne. I know that, but was somehow thinking of the jewelry cutting technique when I typed. Boullion is definitely the name I wanted.
I understand your comment on Etsy. I did a shop there a few years ago with the idea of doing Easter dresses for little girls. Something I loved doing while my daughter was growing up. Before I could get started I had an automobile accident that left my right hand unusable for a couple months. By the time I recovered it was too late to do the dresses and I never got back to it. I read the instructions for a shop and was totally put off by it. Fortunately others don’t feel the same but these days my life is cluttered enough and I don’t need more. Right now I’m in the throes of communicating with our city management to stop looking at the majority of our property as part of our personal residence. It’s a construction site and will be for the next couple years so I don’t need them sneaking around taking pictures of everything they deem out of place. We’ll see how that goes but it can be quite stressful. But I do hear that eBay is much easier to do and I might try that out some time. Right now I’m just having trouble trying to find the time to sew anything.
Oh my what lovely sweaters Anne! I’m envious I never learned how. My mother was a talented knitter, but I never had the patience to learn when I was younger. Now I’m too old and I don’t wanna learn! Your machine smocked dress is lovely as well. Which doll did you make it for? That Clematis is beautiful and really loving its life where it’s at. I love how it’s trailing on the ground and also climbing up the wires so pretty.
Jeanne, thank you for sharing Anne’s photos… she’s so talented and I really enjoy seeing what she creates!
I am so happy to hear you took Rueben for another vet appointment. Prayers for a good outcome!
Hugs
Ingrid
HI Ingrid,
It was nice to see your comments again today! We are all praying for you and hope you feel our love.
Blessings, Jeanne
Love the sweaters, Anne! Perfect knitting. I DO know how to knit AND smock. Your dress is lovely as well.
Hope Rueben is comfortable, Jeanne. Blessings.